What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

[Hoy]

Nice pics, Rick! Not much to picture here now except some colourful birds at the feeders.

I still get seedlings popping up from that F. nitida bloom! Seems to be seeds in the soil still where I had those shrubs. The first seedlings that germinated are still not as big as their parents were at blooming time but are cathing up fast.

[AmyO]

Nice pics, Rick! Not much to picture here now except some colourful birds at the feeders.

Same here! It's 15*f this morning with no snow cover!
Here is a pic I took a couple days ago of what was a nice big Primula marginata 'Linda Pope'! 
The squirrels have been breeding like mad and we are overrun! So far this is the only one that has been
destroyed like this....keeping fingers crossed, but don't hold out much hope for the rest!

[McDonough]

Same here! It's 15*f this morning with no snow cover!
Here is a pic I took a couple days ago of what was a nice big Primula marginata 'Linda Pope'!  
The squirrels have been breeding like mad and we are overrun! So far this is the only one that has been
destroyed like this....keeping fingers crossed, but don't hold out much hope for the rest!

Oh Amy, that's heartbreaking, those dang squirrels .  We're in a similar situation here, cold, the ground mostly open and without snowcover, and the squirrels are still having a field day with their infernal digging.  For a couple items that I planted out last fall, for which I was worried about squirrel mischief because they seem attracted to freshly dug areas, I covered the resting plants with open wire mesh, just laid on the ground.

[Hoy]

Sorry to hear aboutthe damage, Amy!
Fortunately no problems with squirrels here, and neither with the slugs at this time! -1/2 C today and southeasterly wind with loads of snow. Tomorrow they say we'll get +4C and rain and then cold again! I would rather have the snow for a couple of weeks more though.

[AmyO]

Oh Amy, that's heartbreaking, those dang squirrels .  We're in a similar situation here, cold, the ground mostly open and without snowcover, and the squirrels are still having a field day with their infernal digging.  For a couple items that I planted out last fall, for which I was worried about squirrel mischief because they seem attracted to freshly dug areas, I covered the resting plants with open wire mesh, just laid on the ground.

Thanks for the commiseration you guys!  
Mark..I'm thinking of using more ree-may to cover plants in the gardens that routinely get some form of squirrel damage. I use it all winter & spring to cover flats of seedlings and young potted plants and so far has worked very well. I do also use hardware cloth on the larger crates of plants, esp. the more valuable ones....Trillium!!

[McDonough]

Working from home today, I walked the garden on this mild winter day reaching 46 F (8 C), the ground still solidy frozen. On the warm sunny south side of my house, the top couple of inches of soil are frost-free, this marks the earliest flowering ever of Galanthus and a single precocious bloom on Colchicum kesselringii. 

An almost snowless winter thus far, supposed to get a mere 2-3" tomorrow, followed by sunny deep freeze.

[AmyO]

Those sweet and delicate looking snowdrops are so amazingly tough!! They look wonderful to this color starved gardener!!

[Hoy]

Nice, Mark! My snowdrops are still covered by 10cm of hardcrusted snow but the forecast says mild weather this weekend and next week. Maybe I can see my snowdrops and crocuses when I return from England next Saturday!

[WimB]

Very nice to see, Mark.  They were looking like that over here too, before we went into deep-freeze 

[Toole]

Wonderful to see Colchicum kesselringii Mark .I germinated some seed of this last year and a check of the pot tonight confirms i haven't lost them ....

Here's Campanula thyrsoides -- noticed it had a wonderful scent as i was in close taking a macro shot.(I've edited the pics using a vignette setting as an experiment).

Cheers Dave.

[McDonough]

Nice vignettes Dave!  Such a fascinating Campanula, I like those types that defy our normal impression of a genus and manifest themselves in such whimsical ways.  And scented too, not so many campanulas are noticeably scented, that's an added perk.

I'm sure my single precocious Colchicum flower will be toast after our weather has gone back into some deep freezing, but many more flowers should appear when it is safer to do so.

[Lori S.]

I've never noticed a scent from Campanula thyrsoides - is it the dry air here or my lack of attention?     I'll have to take notice this summer!

[David Sellars]

The first Frit is in flower in the greenhouse; Fritillaria pudica - one of our natives.  Another almost native, Douglasia nivalis from the Wenatchee Mountains, is in flower in the Alpine Shed.

[Toole]

Just went out and sniffed Campanula thyrsoides again --i'd call it a citrus scent .Yummy 

Nice pics David --while repotting bulbs recently i see i'm just left with a swarm of F.pudica babies --no trace of the flowering sized bulb that bloomed the last two years   ...

Cheers Dave..

[McDonough]

Just went out and sniffed Campanula thyrsoides again --i'd call it a citrus scent .Yummy 

Nice pics David --while repotting bulbs recently i see i'm just left with a swarm of F.pudica babies --no trace of the flowering sized bulb that bloomed the last two years   ...

Cheers Dave..

The very first thing I do with any flowering plant, is take a whiff, for me it is one of the primary aspects of gardening.